70 Quotes That Will Help You Live in the Present

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Forget the past. Do not worry about the future. Be present and remember that life is a sequence of NOWs. Unknown

Perhaps one of the most difficult things for many of us, especially in today's world, where we are surrounded by all kinds of distractions, is living in the present...living in such a way where we are centered and truly aware of what is happening with us and around us.

We easily fall into the type of mindset where we either focus on stuff that has already happened, or we get caught up in idealistic scenarios that contain the perfect job, the perfect body, the perfect partner, the perfect house and so on. While it is perfectly fine to recall past events and extract the appropriate lessons, or to make plans for what we wish to accomplish, we somehow tend to go overboard and ignore what is really happening with us and with our lives right now, in this very second.

This is bad because as the following quotes will express even more clearly than I, the past is the past, there is nothing that can be done about it, even if it is maybe filled with regret, painful experiences or any other type of drama. Also, the future, is only a concept that lives only in our mind and will always be just around the corner but never actually here. What is here is only the present and we should make the most of it. Hopefully the following quotes will encourage you to do so.

1 - "One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all ofus tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rosegarden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that areblooming outside our windows today." - Dale Carnegie

2 - “If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.” - Unknown

5 - “No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of worrying can change the future.” - Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab

6 - “The here and now is all we have, and if we play it right it's all we'll need.” - Ann Richards

7 - "When walking, walk. When eating, eat." - Zen proverb

8 - “You can't go back to how things were. How you thought they were. All you really have is...now.” - Jay Asher

9 - “Forever is composed of nows.” - Emily Dickinson

10 - “The only way to survive eternity is to be able to appreciate each moment.” - Lauren Kate

11 - “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” - Henry David Thoreau

12 - “We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.” - Bill Watterson

13 - “I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.” - Groucho Marx

14 - “If there's one thing I learned, it's that nobody is here forever. You have to live for the moment, each and every day . . . the here, the now.” - Simone Elkeles

15 - "Don’t cry over the past, it’s gone. Don’t stress about the future, it hasn’t arrived. Do your best to live in the NOW and make it beautiful." - Eckhart Tolle

16 - “The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it.” - Thomas S. Monson

17 - “Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.” - Walt Whitman

18 - “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.” - Eckhart Tolle

19 - “Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.” - Albert Einstein

21 - “All that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment important, vital, and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.” - Martha Graham

22 - “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.” - Benjamin Franklin

23 - “Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.” - Betty Smith

24 - “I promise myself that I will enjoy every minute of the day that is given me to live.” - Thich Nhat Hạnh

25 - “We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives.” - Maya Angelou

26 - “I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.” - Abraham Lincoln

27 - “Dance. Smile. Giggle. Marvel. TRUST. HOPE. LOVE. WISH. BELIEVE. Most of all, enjoy every moment of the journey, and appreciate where you are at this moment instead of always focusing on how far you have to go.” - Mandy Hale

33 - “Instead of bracing yourself for the perils of the unknown, embrace the joy that is here, in your present moment.” - Michelle Cruz-Rosado

34 - “It’s a brand new day. Live in the now it will be gone before you know it” - Rodger Halston

35 - “You can take all the pictures you want, but you can never relive the moment the same way.” - Audrey Regan

36 - “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.” - Eckhart Tolle

37 - “We never know what a day will bring us, but one thing we do know is that every morning we can wake up, smile and hope for the best. SMILE IT'S A NEW DAY” - Ellen K. Wookey

38 - “Wherever you are, be there. If you can be fully present now, you’ll know what it means to live.” - Steve Goodier

39 - “Our tomorrows must be met at the time of their arrival... with the HOPE they are as BEAUTIFUL as today!” - Joe Peterson

40 - “If you talk about it, it's a dream, if you envision it, it's possible, but if you schedule it, it's real.” - Anthony Robbins

41 - “How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?” - Anthony Robbins

42 - "Never allow waiting to become a habit. Live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now." - Unknown

43 – “We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.” - Marlin Monroe

44 - "With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

45 - "One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us." - Michael Cibenko

46 - "You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present." - Jan Glidewell

47 - "I have memories - but only a fool stores his past in the future." - David Gerrold

48 - "Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most." – Buddha

49 - "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present." - Lao Tzu

50 - "Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace." - Author Unknown

53 - "Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee." - Montaigne

54 - "Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness." - James Thurber

55 - “There is no distance on this earth as far away as yesterday.” - Robert Nathan

56 - “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” - Mother Teresa

57 - “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for thepast, worry about the future, but to live in the present moment wiselyand earnestly.” – Buddha

58 - "The future is no place to place your better days." - Dave Matthews

59 - "The future is an opaque mirror. Anyone who tries to look into it sees nothing but the dim outlines of an old and worried face." - Jim Bishop

60 - "The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness." - Abraham Maslow

61 - "We are always getting ready to live but never living." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

62 - "It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis." - Margaret Bonnano

63 - "The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." - Abraham Lincoln

64 - "All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be – don’t try to become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance." - Osho